Full News Report
7th January 2025
May celebrations to mark 80 years of peace
ONE of the biggest historical events of the coming year is planned for Thursday, May 8, when ‘VE Day 80’ will be celebrated across the country.
Bruno Peek, Buckingham Palace’s Pageantmaster, describes the day as ‘A Shared Moment of Celebration’ and one in which he hopes that towns and parishes across the United Kingdom, including Morval Parish, will participate.
Following on from the emotional success of D-Day 80 (June 6 last year), in which the nation commemorated the 80th Anniversary of the D-Day landings in Normandy, France, with the lighting of more than 1,000 beacons and 500 lamp lights of peace throughout UK overseas territories at home and overseas, the Government is now focusing efforts on the celebration of the 80th anniversary of VE Day which marked the end of the war in Europe and the 1939-45 conflict as a whole on May 8, 1945.
Said a Palace spokesman: “We are encouraging the lighting of beacons and lamp lights of peace at 9.30 pm, the raising of a unique VE Day flag at 9.00 am and, where possible, holding parties of celebration throughout the day in the streets, gardens at home, churches, villages, town halls, pubs, clubs, hotels and all manner of locations throughout the United Kingdom, Channel Islands, Isle of Man and UK Overseas Territories.”
The full guide to taking part in the event can be found at:
There is also a VE Day 80 website: https://www.veday80.org.uk